patch it up and sew it shut (my scars are all but gone)
by Tarafina
Summary: Felicity comes home from a long day of work to find Oliver and their daughter sharing a sweet moment.


**Title**: patch it up and sew it shut (my scars are all but gone)  
**Category**: Arrow  
**Genre**: Family/Humor  
**Ship**: Felicity/Oliver  
**Rating**: K+  
**Word Count**: 1,129  
**Summary**: Felicity comes home from a long day of work to find Oliver and their daughter sharing a sweet moment.

**_patch it up and sew it shut (my scars are all but gone)_**  
-1/1-

Felicity was exhausted. Her feet ached, she'd forgotten to eat lunch, and she missed her two favorite people all day. Returning home from work, she dropped her keys in the bowl by the door and toeing off her heels before she climbed the stairs, her hand sliding over the smooth cherry wood bannister for balance while she thought about what else she still had to do that afternoon. She still had some info to run on a particularly skeevy criminal Oliver had been tracking; she'd meant to start it last night, but after giving Breanna a bath and putting her to bed, she'd just sort of passed out and not moved until her alarm let her know it was time for work.

She was mentally going over which databases she would work through first when she walked down the hall to her daughter's bedroom, only to pause in the doorway at the sight before her. It wasn't a shirtless Oliver that made her stop; she'd seen that enough that it didn't surprise her any longer. Of course, it was still up there on her favorite things to look at, with good reason, but it was familiar now. She'd mapped every single scar, new and old, and could tell the story to each one.

What really had her stopping was that those scars were currently being patched up by their daughter. Breanna had apparently found her mother's stash of Disney themed Band-Aids and was applying them to each of her father's 'owchies,' adding a sweet kiss to help them heal. And while the tenderness of the moment would have melted her heart on principle alone, it was the look on Oliver's face that really made Felicity's heart turn over. He sat cross-legged on the floor in nothing but his sweatpants, having forgone work to spend the day with his daughter. Hands resting on his knees, he watched Breanna as she circled him, carefully examining each scar before she dubbed it necessary to kiss and bandage. His face was soft, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his lips, and Felicity could see the awe and adoration blatantly consuming him.

At four, Breanna was the light of Oliver's life. He would do anything for her, without question. Felicity sometimes thought that having somebody so innocent in his life, loving him unconditionally, had been one of the biggest things to help him through the trauma of the island. For so long, he'd been troubled with the idea that he wasn't good enough, that he would never be completely put together, that the only thing he truly had to live for was the list and justice. And yeah, sure, she liked to think that she had a little something to do with changing his mind on some of that. He didn't marry her solely for her hacking skills. He loved her, to the very depths of his soul. She never questioned that. But it was their daughter that truly helped him; it was the trust Breanna put in him every day and the love she gave him without question.

"Don't forget the paper cut he got yesterday. That one was a doozy," Felicity said then, drawing their attention.

Oliver grinned up at her, most of his upper body wearing pink band-aids with various princesses' faces on them. He held his hand up, his forefinger raised for Breanna to check out before she nodded, kissed it with a loud smack of her lips, and pulled out another band-aid.

"All better," she declared before moving on to other scars.

Walking into the room, Felicity knelt down in front of him, bending forward to kiss him hello. She lingered at his lips when he chased them upon her retreat and laughed under her breath, pecking his mouth a few more times before finally pulling back. Sitting back on her haunches, she turned an admiring eye on her daughter's work. "Do you need an ER, or did Doctor Breanna patch you up enough?" she asked her husband.

"I think she's got this one handled," he said, smiling as his daughter ducked under his arm to smooth down a Cinderella band-aid on his hip. "She's very attentive."

"I can see that…" Her brows rose as she looked him over. "Pink looks good on you."

"It looks better on you." He looked down at himself. "But I do seem to be pulling it off."

She laughed, shaking her head. "Your modesty is overwhelming."

His mouth twitched with a smile. "I try."

"So how many are left? 'Cause it looks like she double bandaged a few of them, and you've gotta be running low on band-aids at this point..." Her head tipped as her eyes turned off thoughtfully. "Although, considering how accident prone this family is, I recently stocked up on reserves, so if you're really desperate, I can raid the First Aid cabinet for back-up band-aids… No guarantees on Disney princesses though, since Thea apparently called Roy's masculinity into question the last time she found a Hello Kitty band-aid on him, and you know how testy he can be, so I bought a few boxes of Star Wars themed band-aids to soothe his fractured ego… Although, we really shouldn't perpetuate gender stereotypes, so maybe I'll force him to proudly wear princesses with pride."

Oliver's lips twitched at her ramble. "I think we have plenty… Just to be sure everything heals properly though, maybe you should give them a kiss too."

"Mommy kisses are the best," Breanna agreed.

"Yeah?" she asked, raising a brow.

"You heard it straight from the doctor," Oliver said, before reaching over and hooking an arm around his daughter, hauling her into his lap before he tickled her sides, smiling as she giggled.

"Well, who am I to argue with an accomplished doctor such as her," Felicity murmured, before pushing herself up. "_After _dinner… Which I'm going to order in, because I'm tired and don't care nearly enough about my eating habits. While I'm raiding the menu drawer, how about you two clean up all the band-aid wrappers…? If your patient isn't in too much pain, that is, Doc."

Breanna looked up at her dad and pursed her lips thoughtfully. "No, he's okay." She reached up and patted his shoulder, where a criss-cross of Jasmine, Snow White, Mulan, and Tianna were covering a particularly large burn scar. "He's mostly healed now."

Oliver's face softened. "All thanks to you, Doctor Bre."

Felicity bit her lip and felt her heart thud happily.

The scars would never really fade; they would always be there, a dark reminder. But the fractioned man he once was had been pieced back together, tightly woven into a whole, with surprisingly strong Disney band-aids keeping those parts of him from falling apart again.

[**End.**]


End file.
